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WTF Is So Funny About a Man in a Dress? Femmephobia is no joke.
So, a Man Walks Into a Bar… Oh, Did I Mention He’s Wearing a Dress — Have You Heard This One Before?
Okay — so, a man wearing a dress walks into a bar…
Stop me, if you’ve already heard this one…
And, please, somebody explain to me WTF is so funny about a man in a dress?
Because I don’t get it. Never have. But millions of Europeans and North Americans (Westerners) would disagree and tell me it’s hilarious.
I wear women’s clothes. Smart business suits with ridiculously high heels. Flirty tunics with leggings. Romantic flowing dresses. Off-the-shoulder, strapless, sequinned wonders.
They’re beautiful. Sometimes sexy. Sometimes uncomfortable. Are you laughing at me — a woman in my women’s clothes? Do I seem incongruous? Out of place?
I wear what traditionally were men’s clothes, too. Not at the same time, mind you, except what’s underneath it all, but ladies undies are not the topic of this article. Sorry, not sorry. I’m talking about pants. Shirts. Boots. Jeans.
They used to be considered Men’s Clothes. The sole purview of the male of the species. Women Keep Out. And women used to be ridiculed for wearing them. Now they’re just anybody’s clothes.
And they’re beautiful. Sometimes sexy. Sometimes uncomfortable, but I don’t usually wear a man’s tie with my bespoke tux.
Are you laughing now? Do I look out of place in my “woman-tailored” tux? Do I seem somehow less than what I should be?
And yet a man in a dress is laughable. Hysterically funny. Why is that?
It’s been a staple of theatre and films since “Charlie’s Aunt” or Tony Curtis and Jack Lemon on the run from the mob in “Some Like it Hot.” Men trying to get something, be with someone, escape from someone by dressing up as women. Hiding behind a skirt, quite literally.
Robin Williams as Mrs. Doubtfire turned in a stellar performance. And setting his “bosom” on fire was ribald and rude and people fall about laughing at the funny man in the…
